I don't think GB was ever his first choice. Just my opinion but it seems like whatever issues were swirling around him and Sitton last year left a pretty bad taste in his mouth. He had some strong words about the front office today.

From Wildes twitter:

How do you take those feelings into FA with the desire to give GB the right to match? I think Lang and Sitton were disgruntled before last season, but again that's just my opinion.

Thats just chatter. Dont get lost in the weeds. The guy wasnt feeling the love from GB. Well guess what? For the price tag he pulled down in DET - who cares? I mean, I like the guy and all and he's proven to be a warrior over the years - but OG's are replaceable IMO. Especially ones with his injury history.

Besides, in his own words: "They're gonna be fine. They're still gonna compete. They're still gonna be a helluva team" So in essence - we're still going to be able to "get guys back in town telling them we'll be good and will compete every year".

Tj Lang and Eddy Lacy have questions due to injury issues so weren't worth the money that the other team wanted to pay.

Hyde and Tretter we lost because they were backup players that other teams wanted to pay starter money, so they weren't worth the money the other team wanted to pay. Tretter only started last year because Linsley was injured to start the year.

Cook we lost because we could get two other guys for less than Cook wanted.

It is simply the result of the system that the NFL created to maintain parity. Tj's comments reflect his obvious disappointment that the team decided to move on despite him giving it all for the team last year. His comments are perfectly understandable, but I wouldn't read too much into them.

Logged

"The trouble ain't that there are too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right."

I think it's been pretty clear over the years that if the team views one of their own as a priority they'll pay market rates to keep them - and in some cases perhaps slightly above market. I think they would have loved to keep Lang but also view guard as one of those fungible positions with a finite allocation. I imagine Lang and Sitton were both frustrated that other players were made a priority over them given that they both played exceptionally well, healthy or injured. However, it kind of amazes me that players still get so frustrated during free agency -- look at how many players move teams every single offseason - yet players still seem angered and frustrated that their team happens to be "the one" that lets players go.

Overall - I think this team tends to take care of their players within reason of the CBA. They rarely force a player to restructure (AJ Hawk - who else?) while some teams seem to do it religiously; they seem to allow players to test free agency; by accounts I've seen they told Martellus Bennett they were making Cook a priority first as they are loyal to players and turned to him when talks broke off; they seem to allow players to play out contracts vs cutting under-performing early and eating dead money